- Kobe Bryant and Tyson Chandler were teammates on Team USA
- Chandler and Bryant won the gold at the Olympics and the FIBA Americas Championship
- Chandler hilariously admitted that Bryant was the grumpy old man on the team
Kobe Bryant was not a fan of all the fun his teammates were having during his time with Team USA. Tyson Chandler was a teammate of Bryant’s at the 2012 Olympics and the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, and he spoke about what the locker room was like at the time, during an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast.
“(LeBron James) was always the jokester,” Chandler said. “He kept it loose and funny all the time. Bron is actually funny as hell. (Carmelo Anthony) controlled the music. He was like Radio Raheem. Melo always had a boom box coming on the bus.
Chandler felt overall, it was just a great collection of players that had been assembled.
“And then it was the young crew ’cause you had young James (Harden), young (Kevin Durant), young (Russell Westbrook), and they was all together,” Chandler continued. “They kept the youth of it. So it was a great collection.”
When Matt Barnes asked whether Kobe was the grumpy old man, Chandler said he was.
“Kob was the older dude that wasn’t trying to hear all that laughing and joking and s***,” Chandler added. Bron would be playing, Kobe over there on the corner icing like, ‘What is this new stuff? Kob was like Kob.”
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At the 2012 Olympics, Kobe was the only player over 30 on the roster, and he certainly filled that grumpy old man spot very well. The U.S. cruised to victory at the Olympics, going 8-0 as they defended their crown, having won the gold in the 2008 Olympics as well.
Kobe Bryant And Team USA Crushed The Competition At The 2012 Olympics
While Bryant might not have liked what was going on off the court, he’d have been pleased with how the team played on it. Team USA won games by an average of 32 points in the 2012 Olympics.
They only ever trailed in the fourth quarter once, against Lithuania in the preliminary round, but went on to win the game 99-94. After dispatching Australia and Argentina in comfortable fashion in the knockouts, the U.S. took on Spain in a rematch of the 2008 Final.
It was a close contest, but in the end, Team USA prevailed 107-100 to win the gold. Bryant would finish the tournament with averages of 12.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. It also proved to be his last tournament with the national team, and Kobe retired from Team USA with a perfect 36-0 record.
Tyson Chandler Compared LeBron And Kobe
Having competed against and played with LeBron and Kobe, Chandler is one of the few who can accurately speak on the two all-time greats. They always get compared with each other, and during this episode, the 40-year-old was asked about them.
Chandler shared the difference between LeBron and Kobe, stating that the latter’s mentality is unmatched. He compared it to that of Michael Jordan, something we have heard quite often.
On LeBron, Chandler called him a physical specimen, the likes of which we have never seen in the NBA. It is truly incredible that James is still going strong at this age, and one wonders just for how long he can keep at it.
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